Megabits to Gigabits (Mb to Gb)
1 megabit equals 0.001 gigabits exactly.
How to convert megabits to gigabits
To convert megabits to gigabits, multiply the number of megabits by 0.001. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply gigabits by 1,000.
gigabits = megabits × 0.001
Example: 10 megabits = 0.01 gigabits.
Decimal prefixes (kB, MB, GB) are powers of 1,000; binary prefixes (KiB, MiB, GiB) are powers of 1,024. Storage makers use decimal; Windows reports binary but labels it GB.
About these units
Megabit (Mb)
1,000,000 bits (125,000 bytes). Internet speeds are advertised in megabits per second.
Megabit is the unit behind most internet plans: speeds are quoted in megabits per second, while files are sized in megabytes. Since a byte is eight bits, a megabit is one eighth of a megabyte, which is 125,000 bytes in decimal units, and an advertised speed in Mbit/s therefore looks eight times larger than the same rate in megabytes per second. Data transfer rates are usually measured in decimal SI multiples.
Writing it is tricky. The IEC symbol is Mbit and the IEEE recommends Mb, but a capital M with lowercase b is easy to confuse with MB, the megabyte. The binary counterpart, the mebibit, is rarely used. Memory chips are sometimes sized in megabits too, so check which unit a spec sheet is using before comparing numbers.
1 megabit = 125,000 bytes (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Bit; Wikipedia: Megabit
Gigabit (Gb)
1,000,000,000 bits (125 MB).
Gigabit is one billion bits, or 125 million bytes. In the IEC notation it is written Gbit, while IEEE 1541-2002 recommends Gb, which may be confused with GB for gigabyte. The binary counterpart, the gibibit, is 2 to the thirtieth bits. Network links and fiber are usually rated in gigabits per second, because data transfer rates are measured in decimal SI multiples.
Memory is where gigabits and binary habits collide. Chip capacity is often given in binary multiples using the ambiguous G prefix rather than the IEC Gi, so a DRAM chip advertised as 1 GB has 2 to the thirtieth bytes. The Wikipedia article on the bit says this was still causing difficulty for software designers as of 2022. When you see a gigabit rate, divide by eight for gigabytes per second.
1 gigabit = 125,000,000 bytes (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Gigabit; Wikipedia: Bit
Related conversions
- Gigabits to megabits (reverse)
- Megabits to bytes
- Megabits to kilobytes
- Megabits to megabytes
- Megabits to gigabytes
- Megabits to terabytes
- Megabits to bits
- Megabits to petabytes
- Megabits to kibibytes
- Megabits to mebibytes
- Megabits to gibibytes
- Megabits to tebibytes
- Megabits to kilobits
- Bytes to gigabits
- Kilobytes to gigabits
- Megabytes to gigabits
- Gigabytes to gigabits
- Terabytes to gigabits
- Bits to gigabits
- Petabytes to gigabits
- Kibibytes to gigabits
- Mebibytes to gigabits
- Gibibytes to gigabits
- Tebibytes to gigabits
- Kilobits to gigabits
See all digital storage units.